On March 20, 2026, the family of Milton Muchayana, a student previously arrested and then suspended for distributing fliers opposing a constitutional amendment, reported that he was missing.

Muchayana and two other students were arrested in August 2025 for distributing flyers on campus opposing Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3 (see report). On October 3, 2025, they appeared in court to face charges of “subverting constitutional government” and “incitement to commit public violence.”

Following his release on bail, Muchayana reportedly resumed lectures at MSU but was subsequently served with a suspension letter and escorted off the premises by university security. After a final phone call to his mother using a borrowed phone, Muchayana disappeared. He was later declared a missing person, and his family expressed fears that he may have been murdered. According to rights groups, kidnappings and assaults targeting government critics, including student leaders, political activists, and journalists, are a common tool of state repression in Zimbabwe.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the prosecution, suspension, and abduction of a student in apparent retaliation for the peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. State authorities must refrain from actions intended to restrict or punish the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of scholars, students, and staff. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, such actions undermine academic freedom and democratic society generally.

Sources:
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20260330205612676
https://www.zlhr.org.zw/students-under-prosecution-for-subverting-government-after-opposing-presidential-term-extension/
https://monitor.civicus.org/explore/partial-win-as-court-strikes-out-parts-of-the-patriotic-act/
https://zimbabwenow.co.zw/articles/18779/three-msu-students-face-trial-over-alleged-anti-mnangagwa-fliers